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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401780">Raspberry Sundae</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amlika/pseuds/Amlika'>Amlika</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Disassociated split personality, M/M, darkly fluffy, the only Ashe x death knight fic in the world, yes u read that right</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:08:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,000</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401780</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amlika/pseuds/Amlika</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashe and the Death Knight were never meant to share a moment together. But they do, on a quiet moonlit night.</p><p>A smol fire emblem drabble aka 1k writing exercise.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Jeritza von Hrym</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Raspberry Sundae</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To most people at Garreg Mach, Jeritza is invisible. </p><p> </p><p>He only teaches armed combat training sporadically, and would disappear for days whenever there are whispers of battles at the borders. Family matters, Princess Edelgard would shrug and explain on his behalf. Nobody dares to question Edelgard, easier to buy into the white lie. </p><p> </p><p>When he is around, it’s as if he makes a conscious effort to stay hidden. Never lingering in the sun drenched gardens, never practicing at the dusty training grounds with other professors, not even present at the dining hall during mealtime. </p><p> </p><p>Jeritza is invisible to most people, but Ashe still sees him - in the shadowed alleys that the stray cats linger in; or past midnight, by the open door to the kitchen, where the saccharine fragrance of leftover sweets wafts out. The stiff towering silhouette would be there, blending into a background of gradient greys. </p><p> </p><p>So on this unassuming night, holding the last bowl of raspberry sundae from the dining hall, Ashe strides through the grounds hastily with an unwarranted surge of confidence. </p><p> </p><p>He’ll find him, he’s sure of it. </p><p> </p><p>The ice cream is reduced to a sad puddle of slurry by the time he finally spots the lone figure, seated behind the horse barrack on hay-strewn ground, with a calico cat licking into his extended palm. </p><p> </p><p>“Professor!” Ashe dashes to his side as gently as possible, not wanting to spook the cat. </p><p> </p><p>Silence. </p><p> </p><p>Ashe hesitates but places the bowl in the bread crumb filled palm, “It’s melting.”  </p><p> </p><p>He half expects the bowl to be shoved back into his hand, but instead, a hoarse hum pushes out of Jeritza’s throat. The cat snaps back and glares at Ashe with disdain. </p><p> </p><p>Ashe breathes out of relief when Jeritza picks up the spoon in the bowl and licks off the thick cream speckled with the scarlet berry. The pale moonlight stretches out Jeritza’s blurred shadow, drapes it over Ashe like a thin ominous cloud.</p><p> </p><p>The calico cat meows feebly, neglected. Ashe eyes it, and clears a spot on the ground to sit down, letting silence engulf the space between all of them. </p><p> </p><p>Finally, Jertiza rasps in the dark, “Ice cream, a most delightful nemesis to the murderous throes.” </p><p> </p><p>The cryptic sentence startle Ashe, he blinks hard to rid the meandering thoughts, but words blurt out, having been thistling in his mind for far too long, “Professor, there’s a rumor- that- that-“ </p><p> </p><p>Jeritza turns to face him, brown eyes dulled but attentive, “Don’t call me that. Jeritza is fine.” </p><p> </p><p>Ashe gulps, but trudges on, refusing to let the words fade away, “-that you’re the Death Knight.”</p><p> </p><p>The very phrase spreads a chill upon his skin, conjuring up a fleeting image inside the abyss of the Holy Mausoleum - spiked black armour, horned skull helmet that hides any trace of humanity, and red glowing eyes razoring through the suffocating gloom, brighter than a hundred flickering torches. </p><p> </p><p>He waits for Jeritza to deny the absurd rumor, only to hear a languid murmur between spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream, “I am him. Sometimes.” </p><p> </p><p>The night breeze draws a shiver out of Ashe, and shrouds him in a surreal dream. He squints to trace Jeritza’s sharp features, “You’re a teacher, not some - not a -“</p><p> </p><p>His mind gropes desperately at the right words. A war machine, a symbol of evil and heartlessness. It’s rumoured that the Death Knight revels in the sight of blood, becomes more invincible the more people he slays. </p><p> </p><p>People that may one day be his students. </p><p> </p><p>Jaritza rubs at his own neck absently, soothing a phantom itch, “He needs it, the Death Knight, addicted to the thirst that can never be quenched. Nothing else matters to him, I must hunt it down for him.” </p><p> </p><p>“What about you, Jeritza? What matters to you?”</p><p> </p><p>“Ice cream. Fluffy paws.” The words are uttered slowly, each syllable perfectly pronounced in a flat tone. </p><p> </p><p>“And? Surely there are people you care about… friends, family, someone you love?”</p><p> </p><p>Jeritza laughs, a high pitched trill that makes the calico cat pin its fluffy ears back, “Love, what a ridiculous word, it’s but a beguiling spasm of the heart, far more dangerous than death.” He dips his head to gaze at Ashe’s delicate hand, “My little archer, keep your pretty fingers free of blood, and forget your silly questions.”</p><p> </p><p>Ashe grimaces, voice turning somber, “You think I’m like the rest of them, that school at Garreg Mach is just a short respite from some privileged political game. I’m not. These hands have been covered in calluses since I was 10. I hold no illusion for the future, if we ever meet in war- “ he stutters but continues, “if I ever face the Death Knight in battle, I will fight to the very end, for the safety of those I’ve sworn to protect.” </p><p> </p><p>Jeritza’s gaze flickers and brightens, “Then we will wait for you. Until you are strong enough to face him in the battlefield as equals. It’ll be a most glorious day then, together.”</p><p> </p><p>This small moment in time, of melted raspberry sundae and the quiet calico cat, stays etched in Ashe’s mind, like a page marked with black ink, indelible. As the years flow by, the pages of the book flip through one by one, faster and faster, until he’s gasping for breath at the blur. There are other memories with Jeritza, hidden under the rose, like the chilling night air that pledged to their secrecy. </p><p> </p><p>But the day does come, with tens of thousands of soldiers screaming for their own survival in a barren and crimson soaked field, under the soaring shadow of a dragon that threatens to swallow all the crumbled debris of Garreg Mach. </p><p> </p><p>The gleaming horned helmet no longer looks foreboding to him. It’s just a hollow piece of metal, keeping the tangled thoughts and downcast gaze safely out of reach. Ashe nocks his last arrow onto the gilded bow, and whispers as he aligns his sight, “I see you, I remember you, my love.” </p><p> </p>
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